Congress

The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved two draft funding bills for fiscal 2018 that conflict with appropriation bills proposed by the House earlier this month. The House Appropriations Committee proposed flat funding for the National Science Foundation research programs and Department of Energy’s Office of Science. The Senate, however, is seeking to provide a…

This week, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee released three draft appropriations bills for fiscal year 2018 for a variety of agencies, including those related to science. The drafts include reductions in discretionary funds over 2017 levels. While the committee recommends funding most of the National Science Foundation’s programs at fiscal 2017 levels, rejecting proposed…

This week, the Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies subcommittee held a budget request hearing for the National institutes of Health for fiscal 2018. Witnesses included Francis Collins, director of NIH, as well as directors from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, the National Heart, Lung and Blood…

This week, the U.S. House Science, Space, & Technology subcommittee on research and technology held a hearing on the overhead cost of research being funded by agencies, including the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. Witnesses included: Dale Bell, division director of institution and award support at NSF; John Neumann, director of…

This week, the House Labor, Health and Human Services and Education subcommittee held an oversight hearing on advances in biomedical research at the National institutes of Health. Witnesses included Francis Collins, director of NIH, as well as directors from National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, National Institute…

Today, President Donald Trump signed into law an omnibus spending package funding the federal government for the remainder of the fiscal year. The package, drafted by congressional leaders, largely rejected the president’s FY17 spending recommendations, which proposed a $1.2 billion cut to the National Institutes of Health and a $350 million cut to the National…

This past week, the ASBMB held its annual Hill Day, bringing undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and midcareer researchers to Capitol Hill to discuss federal funding for scientific research with members of Congress and their staffs. #ASBMBHillDay is underway! Meet the undergrads, #PhD students & #postdocs talking to lawmakers about their work: https://t.co/DL1ljWN04g.…

On Wednesday, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing titled “Federally Funded Cancer Research: Coordination and Innovation.” At this hearing, the committee heard testimony from Tammi Carr, mother of Chad Carr, who passed away from a rare brain tumor at the age of 4. Tammi Carr founded the ChadTough foundation, raising…

The U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology earlier this month released its annual filing known as the Views and Estimates. The committee, which is responsible for oversight of nonmilitary, nonbiomedical federally supported research and which oversees major research-funding agencies (including the National Science Foundation, NASA and the Department of Energy), reiterated its…

The White House’s budget rollout last week sent shockwaves through the scientific community broadly and National Institutes of Health supporters specifically. President Donald Trump, in his “skinny budget” release, called for a $5.8 billion cut to the NIH’s budget, 19 percent of fiscal year 2016 appropriations for the agency. The cut came as a surprise…